Avatar based on weather

ABSTRACT

Aspects of the present disclosure involve a system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing a program and a method for generating an avatar based on a weather condition. The program and method include determining a current location of a user device; retrieving a weather condition at the current location of the user device; automatically generating a weather-based avatar for a person associated with the user device, the weather-based avatar having a visual attribute corresponding to the weather condition; and, in response to a request from a requesting device, causing display on the requesting device of the weather-based avatar.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/286,532, filed on Feb. 26, 2019, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to generating avatars andproviding weather information.

BACKGROUND

Weather sites are some of the most popularly, if not the most popularly,visited sites on the Internet. Weather affects our daily lives and it isno surprise that people use the Internet to obtain weather information.Local conditions and forecasts are typically assembled into web pagesfor each city or location. A consumer visiting a weather site on theInternet, or through an app installed on a mobile device, can then entera city or a zip code and obtain the local forecast and currentconditions for that city. Such weather conditions are typicallypresented in a generic form indicating the temperature and likelihood ofrain/snow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views. To easily identifythe discussion of any particular element or act, the most significantdigit or digits in a reference number refer to the figure number inwhich that element is first introduced. Some embodiments are illustratedby way of example, and not limitation, in the figures of theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example messaging system forexchanging data (e.g., messages and associated content) over a network,according to example embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating data which may be stored inthe database of a messaging server system, according to exampleembodiments.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a messagegenerated by a messaging client application for communication, accordingto example embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example weather avatar generationsystem, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating example operations of the weatheravatar generation system, according to example embodiments.

FIGS. 6A, 6B, 7 and 8 are illustrative inputs and outputs of the weatheravatar generation system, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a representative softwarearchitecture, which may be used in conjunction with various hardwarearchitectures herein described, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine able toread instructions from a machine-readable medium (e.g., amachine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein, according to example embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The description that follows includes systems, methods, techniques,instruction sequences, and computing machine program products thatembody illustrative embodiments of the disclosure. In the followingdescription, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific detailsare set forth in order to provide an understanding of variousembodiments. It will be evident, however, to those skilled in the art,that embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. Ingeneral, well-known instruction instances, protocols, structures, andtechniques are not necessarily shown in detail.

Typically, weather information is presented to a user in generic formspecifying the current temperature and the likelihood of rain/snow at aparticular location. While such systems work well for presenting weatherinformation generically, the lack of visual appeal or connection to aspecific user makes them less attractive and less intuitive to use,which increases their overall complexity. This is because simply knowingthe temperature and likelihood of rain/snow may not be enough for everyuser to fully appreciate the significance of the weather conditions(e.g., to choose appropriate clothing or determine the severity of theconditions). For example, a user who lives in a location that is warmyear-round may not appreciate the significance of temperatures that arebelow 40 degrees Fahrenheit to choose temperature-appropriate clothing.

Also, typical weather applications and websites require the user toinput a specific location to determine the weather conditions at thelocation. Such interfaces make it challenging and burdensome for theuser to look up weather information at other locations where the user'sfriends and family live. For example, the user needs to first select afriend, then the user needs to determine where the friend lives, andonly then the user can input that friend's location to the weatherwebsite or app to retrieve weather information for the friend'slocation. Even still, when the user ultimately finds the weatherinformation for the friend's location, the user may still not appreciatethe severity of the weather conditions if the user is not typicallyexposed to such conditions. For example, a user who lives in a locationthat is warm year-round may not appreciate the significance of anupcoming snow storm where the user's friend lives.

The disclosed embodiments improve the efficiency of using the electronicdevice by incorporating one or more avatars into a weather applicationto visually depict weather conditions at one or more given locations.Specifically, according to some embodiments, a request is received froma user device for weather information. In response to this request, aweather condition at a current location of the user device is retrieved,and an avatar, associated with the user device, is generated thatincludes a visual attribute corresponding to the weather condition. Forexample, when the weather condition is rain at the current location ofthe user device, an avatar, representing the user of the user device, isgenerated for display in which a face of the avatar appears to begrimacing and the avatar holds an umbrella. In some embodiments, theavatar can be placed on a background that shows the rainy weathercondition, and the avatar and background are presented together to theuser with a visual representation of the weather conditions.

By presenting to a user the requested weather information for a givenlocation together with an avatar having attributes associated with theweather condition at the given location, the user is provided with aclearer understanding and appreciation for the significance of theweather condition. Namely, with minimal user input, the user obtains theweather conditions at the requested location and can visually ascertain(through the avatar showing someone's clothing, actions, and facialexpressions) what it feels like to be exposed to those weatherconditions.

In some embodiments, weather information at locations where the user hasfriends or family is provided in one or more pages associated with thefriends or family. Such weather information is presented in each pageusing one or more avatars of the friends or family having attributesassociated with the weather conditions at their locations. To see whatthe current or future weather conditions are at the location(s) wherethe user has friends or family, the user accesses the corresponding pagefor the friend or family member by performing a particular gesture, suchas swiping left or right across the screen. Also, sets of friends orfamily that live in the same location or within a specified range of thesame location are grouped into the same page. In this way, rather thanpaging through multiple screens of information to obtain weatherinformation for one location where a user's friend or family memberlives, meaningful weather information, including avatars representingthe weather using visual attributes, is presented to the user quicklyand simply by performing a given gesture that navigates to the pagecontaining the weather information for the friend or family member'slocation.

In some embodiments, to further enhance the speed and simplicity ofaccessing relevant weather information for the user's friends or familymembers' locations, the pages are sorted and organized based on userinterest in the friend or family member and/or severity of the weatherconditions at the location. For example, if an out of the ordinaryoccurrence of weather (e.g., a blizzard or hurricane or other weathercondition that is different from the average or normal weatherconditions) at a given location is determined, the page associated withthat location is repositioned and sorted in the sequence ahead of theother pages. This way, as the user navigates through the different pagescontaining weather information for different locations where the user'sfriends and family live, the page for the location where the out of theordinary occurrence of weather is determined will be reached andpresented first or before the other pages. Also, this page, when the outof the ordinary occurrence of weather is determined, may include anoption for the user to send a message to the friends and family who liveat the location associated with the page. In some implementations, whenthe out of the ordinary occurrence of weather is determined for a givenlocation, the page associated with that location is automaticallypresented to the user as an initial landing page when the user accessesor launches the weather application.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example messaging system 100 forexchanging data (e.g., messages and associated content) over a network106. The messaging system 100 includes multiple client devices 102, eachof which hosts a number of applications, including a messaging clientapplication 104 and a weather application 105. Each messaging clientapplication 104 is communicatively coupled to other instances of themessaging client application 104, the weather application 105, and amessaging server system 108 via a network 106 (e.g., the Internet).

Accordingly, each messaging client application 104 and weatherapplication 105 is able to communicate and exchange data with anothermessaging client application 104 and weather application 105 and withthe messaging server system 108 via the network 106. The data exchangedbetween messaging client applications 104, weather applications 105, andbetween a messaging client application 104 and the messaging serversystem 108 includes functions (e.g., commands to invoke functions) aswell as payload data (e.g., text, audio, video, or other multimediadata).

The weather application 105 is an application that includes a set offunctions that allow the client device 102 to access the weather avatargeneration system 124. In some implementations, the weather application105 is a component or a feature that is part of the messaging clientapplication 104. Weather application 105 allows a user to access weatherinformation for a location of the user and/or for locations where theuser's friends and family live. The weather application 105 retrievesthe weather conditions at the user's location, by accessing weatheravatar generation system 124, and presents those weather conditionstogether with an avatar having attributes associated with the currentweather conditions. For example, if the weather application 105determines that it is currently raining at the user's location or ifrain is in the forecast, the weather application 105 indicates thelikelihood of rain and presents an avatar of the user having a facialexpression that is grimacing while holding an umbrella. The weatherapplication 105 may retrieve an avatar associated with the user andaccess avatar attributes associated with the current weather from theweather avatar generation system 124. Using the avatar attributes,obtained from weather avatar generation system 124, the weatherapplication 105 adjusts properties or attributes of the retrieved avatarto have the retrieved attributes associated with the weather.

The embodiments discussed herein are examples of providing weatherinformation using avatars in a weather application 105. It should beunderstood that the same type of information can be provided to a userin any other type of application. For example, the same techniques couldbe employed in other social media applications. In such circumstances,user avatars depicting weather in a given location can be presented in achat interface, a social media activity or data feed, or on a map-basedinterface that depicts a user's friends' avatars on a map based on theirpresent location. In the map-based interface, each avatar of the user'sfriend may be modified to depict attributes associated with weather atthe location of the avatar.

In some embodiments, the weather application 105 determines a currentcontext of the client device 102 being used by the user. For example,the weather application 105 determines that the client device 102 is ina car or an airplane. In such circumstances, the weather application 105retrieves a graphic associated with the context (e.g., an image of aconvertible car) and adjusts an attribute of the graphic to match thecurrent weather conditions. For example, if the weather application 105determines it is currently raining, the weather application 105 presentsthe car with the top of the convertible up and the windshield wipers on.On the other hand, if the weather application 105 determines it iscurrently sunny, then the weather application 105 presents the car withthe top of the convertible down. The weather application 105 inserts theavatar having the attributes associated with the weather condition inthe current context (e.g., inside of the car having the attributesassociated with the weather).

In some embodiments, the weather application 105 retrieves a backgroundassociated with the current weather conditions. The weather application105 presents the avatar with the attributes associated with the currentweather conditions and/or the graphic representing the current contextof the client device 102 together.

In some embodiments, the weather application 105 presents weatherconditions at locations in which the user's friends/family lives. Suchweather conditions are presented in the form of individual pages thatare dedicated to specific locations. The user may initially select agroup of users that includes the user's friends/family, and the weatherapplication 105 may determine the locations of each of the selectedfriends/family. The locations may be determined by communicating withthe messaging client application 104 and/or social network system 122 inwhich profiles of the selected friends/family are stored. For eachunique location or for each location that exceeds a specified threshold,the weather application 105 generates a separate page. The pages aresequentially arranged based on importance or interest level the user hasin the friends at a given location associated with the page and/or basedon the number of friends/family members the user has at the location.For example, if a user has ten friends in Los Angeles and three friendsin New York, then the page associated with Los Angeles is positionedearlier in the sequence of pages than the page for New York.

The user navigates between the different pages by performing a specificgesture (e.g., swiping left/right across the screen). When a given pageis accessed, weather information for the location associated with thepage is presented together with one or more avatars of thefriends/family members who live at the location associated with thepage. Each of the avatars presented on the page may include attributesassociated with the current weather conditions at the location. Forexample, if the user navigates to a page associated with the city of LosAngeles where ten of the user's friends live, the weather application105 presents ten different avatars representing each of those friends.The ten avatars may be presented in beachwear and playing beachvolleyball when the weather application 105 determines that the currentweather condition in Los Angeles is sunny with temperatures above 75degrees Fahrenheit. If the user subsequently navigates to another pageassociated with the city of New York, where three of the user's friendslive, the weather application 105 presents three different avatarsrepresenting each of those three friends. The three avatars may bepresented in coats with frowns on their faces when the weatherapplication 105 determines that the current weather condition in NewYork is cold and rainy with temperatures below 45 degrees Fahrenheit.

In some embodiments, the weather application 105 receives an alert fromthe weather avatar generation system 124 indicating that out of theordinary weather conditions have been detected at a location associatedwith one of the pages of the weather application 105. An out of theordinary weather condition may be a weather condition that differs froma historical average of weather conditions for the same time period(e.g., the same month, season, or day) by more than a specified amount.For example, the weather avatar generation system 124 transmits an alertto the weather application 105 indicating that a blizzard was detectedin the city of New York, where the user's three friends live. In suchcircumstances, the weather application 105 reorganizes the pages of theweather application 105 to position the page associated with the city ofNew York ahead of all or some of the other pages (e.g., the pageassociated with the city of Los Angeles).

In some implementations, the page associated with the city of New Yorkmay be positioned as the first page of the weather application 105 inresponse to receiving the alert indicating the out of the ordinaryweather condition. The page may indicate that an out of the ordinaryweather condition is present at the city of New York and may include thethree avatars with attributes associated with that out of the ordinaryweather condition. The page may now also include an option to send amessage to all or a selected subset of the friends/family members wholive at the location associated with the displayed page. In response toreceiving a user selection of the option, the user can compose a messageto send to the selected friends/family members using the messagingclient application 104.

The messaging server system 108 provides server-side functionality viathe network 106 to a particular messaging client application 104. Whilecertain functions of the messaging system 100 are described herein asbeing performed by either a messaging client application 104 or by themessaging server system 108, it will be appreciated that the location ofcertain functionality either within the messaging client application 104or the messaging server system 108 is a design choice. For example, itmay be technically preferable to initially deploy certain technology andfunctionality within the messaging server system 108, but to latermigrate this technology and functionality to the messaging clientapplication 104 where a client device 102 has a sufficient processingcapacity.

The messaging server system 108 supports various services and operationsthat are provided to the messaging client application 104. Suchoperations include transmitting data to, receiving data from, andprocessing data generated by the messaging client application 104. Thisdata may include message content, client device information, geolocationinformation, media annotation and overlays, virtual objects, messagecontent persistence conditions, social network information, and liveevent information, as examples. Data exchanges within the messagingsystem 100 are invoked and controlled through functions available viauser interfaces (UIs) of the messaging client application 104.

Turning now specifically to the messaging server system 108, anApplication Program Interface (API) server 110 is coupled to, andprovides a programmatic interface to, an application server 112. Theapplication server 112 is communicatively coupled to a database server118, which facilitates access to a database 120 in which is stored dataassociated with messages processed by the application server 112.

Dealing specifically with the API server 110, this server 110 receivesand transmits message data (e.g., commands and message payloads) betweenthe client device 102 and the application server 112. Specifically, theAPI server 110 provides a set of interfaces (e.g., routines andprotocols) that can be called or queried by the messaging clientapplication 104 in order to invoke functionality of the applicationserver 112. The API server 110 exposes various functions supported bythe application server 112, including account registration; loginfunctionality; the sending of messages, via the application server 112,from a particular messaging client application 104 to another messagingclient application 104; the sending of media files (e.g., images orvideo) from a messaging client application 104 to the messaging serverapplication 114, and for possible access by another messaging clientapplication 104; the setting of a collection of media data (e.g.,story); the retrieval of such collections; the retrieval of a list offriends of a user of a client device 102; the retrieval of messages andcontent; the adding and deleting of friends to a social graph; thelocation of friends within a social graph; access to user conversationdata; access to avatar information stored on messaging server system108; and opening an application event (e.g., relating to the messagingclient application 104).

The application server 112 hosts a number of applications andsubsystems, including a messaging server application 114, an imageprocessing system 116, a social network system 122, and the weatheravatar generation system 124. The messaging server application 114implements a number of message processing technologies and functions,particularly related to the aggregation and other processing of content(e.g., textual and multimedia content) included in messages receivedfrom multiple instances of the messaging client application 104. As willbe described in further detail, the text and media content from multiplesources may be aggregated into collections of content (e.g., calledstories or galleries). These collections are then made available, by themessaging server application 114, to the messaging client application104. Other processor- and memory-intensive processing of data may alsobe performed server-side by the messaging server application 114, inview of the hardware requirements for such processing.

The application server 112 also includes an image processing system 116that is dedicated to performing various image processing operations,typically with respect to images or video received within the payload ofa message at the messaging server application 114. A portion of theimage processing system 116 may also be implemented by the weatheravatar generation system 124.

The social network system 122 supports various social networkingfunctions and services and makes these functions and services availableto the messaging server application 114. To this end, the social networksystem 122 maintains and accesses an entity graph within the database120. Examples of functions and services supported by the social networksystem 122 include the identification of other users of the messagingsystem 100 with which a particular user has relationships or is“following” and also the identification of other entities and interestsof a particular user. Such other users may be referred to as the user'sfriends. Social network system 122 may access location informationassociated with each of the user's friends to determine where they liveor are currently located geographically. Social network system 122 maymaintain a location profile for each of the user's friends indicatingthe geographical location where the user's friends live.

The application server 112 is communicatively coupled to a databaseserver 118, which facilitates access to a database 120 in which isstored data associated with messages processed by the messaging serverapplication 114.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram 200 illustrating data, which may be storedin the database 120 of the messaging server system 108, according tocertain example embodiments. While the content of the database 120 isshown to comprise a number of tables, it will be appreciated that thedata could be stored in other types of data structures (e.g., as anobject-oriented database).

The database 120 includes message data stored within a message table214. An entity table 202 stores entity data, including an entity graph204. Entities for which records are maintained within the entity table202 may include individuals, corporate entities, organizations, objects,places, events, and so forth. Regardless of type, any entity regardingwhich the messaging server system 108 stores data may be a recognizedentity. Each entity is provided with a unique identifier, as well as anentity type identifier (not shown).

The entity graph 204 furthermore stores information regardingrelationships and associations between entities. Such relationships maybe social, professional (e.g., work at a common corporation ororganization), interest-based, or activity-based, merely for example.

Message table 214 may store a collection of conversations between a userand one or more friends or entities. Message table 214 may includevarious attributes of each conversation, such as the list ofparticipants, the size of the conversation (e.g., number of users and/ornumber of messages), the chat color of the conversation, a uniqueidentifier for the conversation, and any other conversation relatedfeature(s).

The database 120 also stores annotation data, in the example form offilters, in an annotation table 212. Database 120 also stores annotatedcontent received in the annotation table 212. Filters for which data isstored within the annotation table 212 are associated with and appliedto videos (for which data is stored in a video table 210) and/or images(for which data is stored in an image table 208). Filters, in oneexample, are overlays that are displayed as overlaid on an image orvideo during presentation to a recipient user. Filters may be of varioustypes, including user-selected filters from a gallery of filterspresented to a sending user by the messaging client application 104 whenthe sending user is composing a message. Other types of filters includegeolocation filters (also known as geo-filters), which may be presentedto a sending user based on geographic location. For example, geolocationfilters specific to a neighborhood or special location may be presentedwithin a UI by the messaging client application 104, based ongeolocation information determined by a Global Positioning System (GPS)unit of the client device 102. Another type of filter is a data filter,which may be selectively presented to a sending user by the messagingclient application 104, based on other inputs or information gathered bythe client device 102 during the message creation process. Examples ofdata filters include current temperature at a specific location, acurrent speed at which a sending user is traveling, battery life for aclient device 102, or the current time.

Other annotation data that may be stored within the image table 208 isso-called “lens” data. A “lens” may be a real-time special effect andsound that may be added to an image or a video.

As mentioned above, the video table 210 stores video data which, in oneembodiment, is associated with messages for which records are maintainedwithin the message table 214. Similarly, the image table 208 storesimage data associated with messages for which message data is stored inthe entity table 202. The entity table 202 may associate variousannotations from the annotation table 212 with various images and videosstored in the image table 208 and the video table 210.

Avatar weather attribute(s) 207 stores avatar attributes or parametersthe weather avatar generation system 124 uses to generate avatarsrepresenting different weather conditions. For example, avatar weatherattribute(s) 207 associates a first plurality of avatar attributes for afirst weather condition and a second plurality of avatar attributes fora second weather condition. The avatar attributes may specify facialexpressions, animation characteristics, avatar accessories (e.g.,umbrella), avatar clothing, and avatar poses. Each weather condition mayinclude a different set or combinations of different attributes. Theavatar attributes may be stored as generic instructions that are used tomodify a specific avatar to depict the given set of avatar attributes.For example, a first avatar that includes features specific to a firstuser (e.g., hair style and skin color) may be adjusted based on a firstset of avatar attributes to depict a certain pose and have a certain setof clothing associated with the first set of avatar attributes. A secondavatar that includes features specific to a second user may be adjustedbased on the same first set of avatar attributes to depict the samecertain pose and have the same certain set of clothing associated withthe first set of avatar attributes as the first avatar while maintainingthe features that are unique to the second user.

Avatar weather attribute(s) 207 may store graphic or context attributesthe weather avatar generation system 124 uses to generate graphicrepresentations of contexts. For example, avatar weather attribute(s)207 may store a first set of parameters for a car driving in a firstweather condition (e.g., rainy weather) and a second set of parametersfor a car driving in a second weather condition (e.g., sunny weather).The first set of parameters may indicate that windshield wipers arerunning and the top of the convertible car is up while the second set ofparameters may indicate that the top of the convertible car is down oropen.

Scenery weather attribute(s) 209 may store backgrounds the weatheravatar generation system 124 uses to provide weather information usingan avatar. For example, scenery weather attribute(s) 209 associates afirst plurality of backgrounds for a first weather condition and asecond plurality of backgrounds for a second weather condition. Thefirst weather condition may be light rainy weather and, in such cases,the first plurality of backgrounds may include one background depictinga rainbow and a sun and another background depicting gray cloudsblocking the sun. The second weather condition may be snowy weather and,in such cases, the second plurality of backgrounds may include onebackground depicting snow falling from the sky and another backgrounddepicting a snowman on the ground.

A story table 206 stores data regarding collections of messages andassociated image, video, or audio data, which are compiled into acollection (e.g., a story or a gallery). The creation of a particularcollection may be initiated by a particular user (e.g., each user forwhich a record is maintained in the entity table 202). A user may createa “personal story” in the form of a collection of content that has beencreated and sent/broadcast by that user. To this end, the UI of themessaging client application 104 may include an icon that isuser-selectable to enable a sending user to add specific content to hisor her personal story.

A collection may also constitute a “live story,” which is a collectionof content from multiple users that is created manually, automatically,or using a combination of manual and automatic techniques. For example,a “live story” may constitute a curated stream of user-submitted contentfrom various locations and events. Users whose client devices havelocation services enabled and are at a common location event at aparticular time may, for example, be presented with an option, via a UIof the messaging client application 104, to contribute content to aparticular live story. The live story may be identified to the user bythe messaging client application 104 based on his or her location. Theend result is a “live story” told from a community perspective.

A further type of content collection is known as a “location story,”which enables a user whose client device 102 is located within aspecific geographic location (e.g., on a college or university campus)to contribute to a particular collection. In some embodiments, acontribution to a location story may require a second degree ofauthentication to verify that the end user belongs to a specificorganization or other entity (e.g., is a student on the universitycampus).

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a message 300,according to some embodiments, generated by a messaging clientapplication 104 for communication to a further messaging clientapplication 104 or the messaging server application 114. The content ofa particular message 300 is used to populate the message table 214stored within the database 120, accessible by the messaging serverapplication 114. Similarly, the content of a message 300 is stored inmemory as “in-transit” or “in-flight” data of the client device 102 orthe application server 112. The message 300 is shown to include thefollowing components:

-   -   A message identifier 302: a unique identifier that identifies        the message 300.    -   A message text payload 304: text, to be generated by a user via        a UI of the client device 102 and that is included in the        message 300.    -   A message image payload 306: image data, captured by a camera        component of a client device 102 or retrieved from memory of a        client device 102, and that is included in the message 300.    -   A message video payload 308: video data, captured by a camera        component or retrieved from a memory component of the client        device 102 and that is included in the message 300.    -   A message audio payload 310: audio data, captured by a        microphone or retrieved from the memory component of the client        device 102, and that is included in the message 300.    -   Message annotations 312: annotation data (e.g., filters,        stickers, or other enhancements) that represents annotations to        be applied to message image payload 306, message video payload        308, or message audio payload 310 of the message 300.    -   A message duration parameter 314: parameter value indicating, in        seconds, the amount of time for which content of the message        (e.g., the message image payload 306, message video payload 308,        message audio payload 310) is to be presented or made accessible        to a user via the messaging client application 104.    -   A message geolocation parameter 316: geolocation data (e.g.,        latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates) associated with the        content payload of the message. Multiple message geolocation        parameter 316 values may be included in the payload, with each        of these parameter values being associated with respect to        content items included in the content (e.g., a specific image        within the message image payload 306, or a specific video in the        message video payload 308).    -   A message story identifier 318: identifier value identifying one        or more content collections (e.g., “stories”) with which a        particular content item in the message image payload 306 of the        message 300 is associated. For example, multiple images within        the message image payload 306 may each be associated with        multiple content collections using identifier values.    -   A message tag 320: each message 300 may be tagged with multiple        tags, each of which is indicative of the subject matter of        content included in the message payload. For example, where a        particular image included in the message image payload 306        depicts an animal (e.g., a lion), a tag value may be included        within the message tag 320 that is indicative of the relevant        animal. Tag values may be generated manually, based on user        input, or may be automatically generated using, for example,        image recognition.    -   A message sender identifier 322: an identifier (e.g., a        messaging system identifier, email address, or device        identifier) indicative of a user of the client device 102 on        which the message 300 was generated and from which the message        300 was sent.    -   A message receiver identifier 324: an identifier (e.g., a        messaging system identifier, email address, or device        identifier) indicative of user(s) of the client device 102 to        which the message 300 is addressed. In the case of a        conversation between multiple users, the identifier may indicate        each user involved in the conversation.

The contents (e.g., values) of the various components of message 300 maybe pointers to locations in tables within which content data values arestored. For example, an image value in the message image payload 306 maybe a pointer to (or address of) a location within an image table 208.Similarly, values within the message video payload 308 may point to datastored within a video table 210, values stored within the messageannotations 312 may point to data stored in an annotation table 212,values stored within the message story identifier 318 may point to datastored in a story table 206, and values stored within the message senderidentifier 322 and the message receiver identifier 324 may point to userrecords stored within an entity table 202.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example weather avatar generationsystem 124, according to example embodiments. Weather avatar generationsystem 124 includes a weather condition module 414, a user(s) locationmodule 419, an avatar attribute selection module 416, a backgroundselection module 418, and an avatar display module 420. Weather avatargeneration system 124 optionally also includes an out-of-ordinaryweather determination module 422, a context determination module 412,and a contextual graphic selection module 413.

User(s) location module 419 accesses a list of friends/family membersthe user specifies for inclusion in the weather application 105.Specifically, the user may open the weather application 105 and choosean option to add friends. The add friends option may retrieve from thesocial network system 122 a list of all the user's friends. The user maychoose which friends the user is most interested in including in theweather application 105. In particular, any friend that is selected fromthis list may be used to generate a corresponding page for the locationassociated with the selected friend. User(s) location module 419accesses the list of friends and communicates with the social networksystem 122 to determine the geographical location of each selectedfriend.

In some implementations, the geographical location obtained by theuser(s) location module 419 represents the live current location of adevice associated with each accessed friend and/or a pre-stored orpre-specified location associated with that friend representing wherethe friend lives or resides. The user(s) location module 419 may groupfriends selected by the user based on similarity in their locations. Forexample, friends that are associated with a given location that iswithin a specified range (e.g., less than 50 miles) of a given city maybe grouped together. The specified range may be input by a user or maybe selected by an operator of the weather avatar generation system 124.The user(s) location module 419 may output a plurality of groups offriends in which each one of the groups is associated with the samecommon location. The user(s) location module 419 generates a differentpage for each group of friends so that each page represents a givenlocation.

The pages generated by the user(s) location module 419 are provided tothe weather condition module 414 together with the current geographicallocation or pre-specified location of the user of the client device 102.The weather condition module 414 accesses a third-party website orapplication to obtain weather information for each of the locationsassociated with the pages provided by user(s) location module 419. Forexample, the weather condition module 414 may determine that the user ofthe client device 102 is currently in New York and, accordingly, obtainsweather conditions including a weather forecast for the city of New Yorkfrom a third-party website of weather application. The weather conditionmodule 414 may determine that one group of friends indicated by user(s)location module 419 is associated with a page representing the city ofLos Angeles and, according, the weather condition module 414 maycommunicate with a third-party weather website or application to obtainweather conditions (e.g., current weather and/or forecast of weatherconditions) for the city of Los Angeles. In some embodiments, theweather condition module 414 may obtain the weather conditions inreal-time on an on-going basis, periodically, or in response toreceiving a user request to access the weather application 105.

The weather condition module 414 provides the weather conditions to theavatar attribute selection module 416, the out-of-ordinary weatherdetermination module 422, and the context determination module 412.Avatar attribute selection module 416 accesses the avatar weatherattribute(s) 207. Specifically, avatar attribute selection module 416retrieves from the avatar weather attribute(s) 207 the list of avatarattributes associated with the weather conditions received from theweather condition module 414. The avatar attribute selection module 416selects one of the attributes, obtained from the avatar weatherattribute(s) 207, associated with the weather conditions randomly,pseudo randomly, or in a cyclical manner (e.g., in a sequential manner).

In some embodiments, the avatar attribute selection module 416determines that multiple users are represented by a given pageassociated with the same weather conditions. For example, three usersmay be associated with the city of Los Angeles page for which thecurrent weather condition indicated by weather condition module 414 issunny. In such cases, the avatar attribute selection module 416randomly, pseudo randomly, or in a cyclical manner selects threedifferent avatar attributes from avatar weather attribute(s) 207associated with the sunny weather condition. In some embodiments, morethan one avatar can be displayed together for a given location (e.g., ona single page) based on multiple different avatar attributes that areselected.

The avatar attribute selection module 416 obtains the avatars associatedwith the specific users represented by a given page. For example, theavatar attribute selection module 416 obtains the avatar of the user ofthe client device 102 represented by a first page and obtains threeavatars of three users represented by a second page corresponding to thecity of Los Angeles. The avatar attribute selection module 416 modifiesthe obtained avatars to include the attributes selected from avatarweather attribute(s) 207. For example, the avatar attribute selectionmodule 416 adjusts a pose, accessories, and clothing of a given avatarto represent the weather conditions of the location represented by thepage in which the avatar is presented.

The avatar attribute selection module 416 provides the weatherconditions and the modified avatars of each page to the backgroundselection module 418. Background selection module 418 accesses thescenery weather attribute(s) 209. Specifically, background selectionmodule 418 retrieves from the scenery weather attribute(s) 209 the listof backgrounds associated with the weather conditions received from theavatar attribute selection module 416. The background selection module418 selects one of the backgrounds, obtained from the scenery weatherattribute(s) 209, associated with the weather conditions randomly,pseudo randomly, or in a cyclical manner (e.g., in a sequential manner).The background selection module 418 selects a different background fromthe scenery weather attribute(s) 209 for each page for which weatherconditions are obtained.

The background selection module 418 combines the modified avatarsprovided by the avatar attribute selection module 416 with thecorresponding background that is selected. For example, a given pagecorresponds to the city of Los Angeles where three of the user's friendslive. In such cases, the avatar attribute selection module 416 generatesthree avatars depicting the three friends in beachwear playingvolleyball (e.g., having volleyball-specific poses) and the backgroundselection module 418 selects the beach as the background. The backgroundselection module 418 combines the three avatars in the beachwear playingvolleyball on a sandy beach background.

The background selection module 418 provides the combined avatars andbackground for each page to the avatar display module 420. Avatardisplay module 420 arranges the received backgrounds and avatars into acollection or set of pages of the weather application 105. For example,avatar display module 420 presents, as a first page, the avatar of theuser of the client device 102 having attributes associated with theweather condition at the user's location together with the backgroundrepresenting the weather condition at the user's location. The avatardisplay module 420 may present, as a second page, the three avatarsassociated with the users who live in Los Angeles or within a specifiedrange of Los Angeles having the attributes associated with the currentweather condition in Los Angeles combined with the backgroundrepresenting that weather condition.

Context determination module 412 accesses social network system 122 toobtain current context information for users selected to be included inthe weather application 105. In some embodiments, context determinationmodule 412 communicates with devices of each user selected to beincluded in the weather application 105 to infer context. For example,the context determination module 412 may communicate with anaccelerometer of a given user device to determine a speed at which thedevice is moving. If the speed exceeds a first specified amount, thecontext determination module 412 determines that the device and user arein a car. If the speed exceeds a second specified amount greater thanthe first amount, the context determination module 412 determines thatthe device and user are in an airplane. As another example, contextdetermination can be based on location alone or in combination withspeed. For example, context determination module 412 may determine theuser is located at sea or on a lake, and in response, an avatar isrendered depicting the user on a boat, yacht, or the like.

The context determination module 412 provides the determined context tothe contextual graphic selection module 413 which retrieves a graphicrepresenting the determined context (e.g., an avatar of a car or aplane). The context determination module 412 provides the determinedcontext and the current weather condition to the avatar weatherattribute(s) 207 to obtain graphic attributes associated with theweather condition. The contextual graphic selection module 413 chooses agiven graphic attribute from the avatar weather attribute(s) 207 andmodifies the graphic based on the chosen graphic attribute. For example,the contextual graphic selection module 413 modifies a graphicrepresenting a car avatar to have the roof down or open when the weatherconditions are sunny and modifies the graphic representing the caravatar to have the roof up or closed and animates windshield wipers whenthe weather conditions are rainy. As another example, the contextualgraphic selection module 413 modifies a graphic representing a boat onthe water with rough water conditions (in rainy weather) or calm waterconditions (in sunny weather).

The modified avatar is provided to the avatar display module 420, whichintegrates one or more avatars on a given page with the modifiedgraphic. For example, the avatar display module 420 identifies whichavatar on a given page is associated with the graphic received fromcontextual graphic selection module 413. The avatar display module 420may then insert the avatar into the modified graphic on the page. Forexample, in sunny conditions, the avatar display module 420 generates apage in which an avatar dressed in beachwear is added or placed insideof the car avatar having the roof open or top down.

Out-of-ordinary weather determination module 422 receives the weathercondition for each location for which a page is generated from theweather condition module 414. The out-of-ordinary weather determinationmodule 422 compares the weather conditions to historical averages at thecorresponding locations to determine whether the current conditionsdiffer from the historical averages by more than a specified amount. Forexample, the out-of-ordinary weather determination module 422 stores adatabase of historical weather averages for various geographicallocations. The averages may be for any time frame, such as seasonalaverages, daily averages, monthly averages or yearly averages.

In one example, the out-of-ordinary weather determination module 422 maydetermine that the current weather conditions for a given city (e.g.,Los Angeles) for which a page is generated include temperaturesexceeding 99 degrees Fahrenheit. The out-of-ordinary weatherdetermination module 422 retrieves the average daily temperature for thecurrent day or month of the year from the historical averages that arestored and determines that the average temperature for Los Angeles forthe time of year is 65 degrees Fahrenheit. The out-of-ordinary weatherdetermination module 422 may determine that the current weathercondition in Los Angeles is greater than the average by more than 20degrees Fahrenheit and accordingly may generate an indication or alertthat this weather condition is out of the ordinary.

In another example, the out-of-ordinary weather determination module 422may determine that the current weather conditions for a given city(e.g., New York) for which a page is generated include temperatureslower than negative 5 degrees Fahrenheit. The out-of-ordinary weatherdetermination module 422 retrieves the average daily temperature for thecurrent day or month of the year from the historical averages that arestored and determines that the average temperature for New York for thetime of year is 32 degrees Fahrenheit. The out-of-ordinary weatherdetermination module 422 may determine that the current weathercondition in New York is lower than the average by more than 15 degreesFahrenheit and accordingly may generate an indication or alert that thisweather condition is out of the ordinary.

In another example, the out-of-ordinary weather determination module 422may determine that the current weather conditions for a given city(e.g., New York) for which a page is generated include more than 25inches of snow. The out-of-ordinary weather determination module 422retrieves the average daily snow conditions for the current day or monthof the year from the historical averages that are stored and determinesthat the average snow conditions for New York for the time of year is 2inches of snow. The out-of-ordinary weather determination module 422 maydetermine that the current weather condition in New York is more thanthe average by more than 10 inches of snow and accordingly may generatean indication or alert that this weather condition is out of theordinary.

The alert or indication of the out-of-ordinary weather condition isprovided to the avatar display module 420. Avatar display module 420 mayre-arrange the pages or sort the pages based on this alert orindication. For example, the out-of-ordinary weather determinationmodule 422 indicates that New York has out of the ordinary weatherconditions. In such circumstances, the avatar display module 420positions or places the page associated with the city of New York aheadof all the other pages associated with other cities. This way, as theuser navigates from the first page of the weather application 105 tosubsequent pages, the page associated with the city of New York will benavigated to first and be presented before the pages of other cities.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating example operations of the weatheravatar generation system 124 in performing process 500, according toexample embodiments. The process 500 may be embodied incomputer-readable instructions for execution by one or more processorssuch that the operations of the process 500 may be performed in part orin whole by the functional components of the messaging server system 108and/or weather application 105; accordingly, the process 500 isdescribed below by way of example with reference thereto. However, inother embodiments, at least some of the operations of the process 500may be deployed on various other hardware configurations. The process500 is therefore not intended to be limited to the messaging serversystem 108 and can be implemented in whole, or in part, by any othercomponent. Some or all of the operations of process 500 can be inparallel, out of order, or entirely omitted.

At operation 502, the weather avatar generation system 124 determines acurrent location of a user device. For example, the user(s) locationmodule 419 determines a current location of the client device 102 (e.g.,by obtaining GPS coordinates of the client device 102) of a user'sfriend(s).

At operation 503, the weather avatar generation system 124 retrieves aweather condition at the current location of the user device. Forexample, the weather condition module 414 determines a city associatedwith the current location of the client device 102 or GPS coordinates ofthe client device 102. The weather condition module 414 communicateswith a third-party weather service (e.g., a website or third-partyweather application) to obtain current weather conditions and/or aweather forecast for the determined city or GPS coordinates.

At operation 504, the weather avatar generation system 124 automaticallygenerates a weather-based avatar for a person associated with the userdevice having a visual attribute corresponding to the weather condition.For example, avatar attribute selection module 416 receives the currentweather conditions from the weather condition module 414 and selectsavatar attributes associated with the received weather conditions. Theselected avatar attributes are used to modify an avatar of the user'sfriend associated with the client device 102 to represent the weatherconditions (e.g., a pose and clothing of the avatar are modified torepresent the current weather conditions).

At operation 505, the weather avatar generation system 124, in responseto receiving a request from a requesting device, causes display on therequesting device of the weather-based avatar. For example, the weatherapplication 105 presents a page to a user of another client device 102that includes the weather conditions (e.g., temperature) obtained by theweather condition module 414 and the modified avatar generated by theavatar attribute selection module 416.

FIGS. 6A, 6B, 7 and 8 show illustrative inputs and outputs of theweather avatar generation system 124, according to example embodiments.The inputs and outputs shown in FIGS. 6A, 6B, 7 and 8 can be implementedby the weather application 105. The weather application 105 may receivea user request for the weather. In response, the weather application 105determines the user lives in New York and accesses weather informationfor the user's location. The weather application 105 generates a display601 in which the user's current location 612 is indicated along with thecurrent weather 614. The weather application 105 presents a background610 associated with the current weather 614. In this case, thebackground 610 shows falling snow and a snowman because the currentweather 614 indicates the temperature is 30 degrees Fahrenheit andsnowing. The weather application 105 presents an avatar 616 withattributes associated with snowy weather (e.g., an avatar wearing asweater and animated as playing with a snowman). On another day, theweather application 105 determines that the weather is rainy. In suchcircumstances, the weather application 105 presents a background 620depicting rain and an avatar 620 that is grimacing and holding anumbrella.

In response to the weather application 105 receiving a gesture from theuser swiping left, the weather application 105 accesses a second page inwhich an avatar 632 associated with the user's friend is presented inscreen 602. An indicator 624 at the bottom of the screen 602 shows,using a number of dots, how many pages are available in the weatherapplication 105 and highlights a given dot associated with the currentpage being shown. The weather application 105 determines that the user'sfriend lives in Montana, where the current weather includesthunderstorms. Accordingly, the background 630 depicts lightning and theavatar 632 of the friend is depicted crouching over in a scared pose.

In response to the weather application 105 receiving a gesture from theuser swiping left, the weather application 105 accesses a third page inwhich an avatar associated with a second friend of the user is presentedin screen 603. The weather application 105 determines that the secondfriend lives in Jamaica, where the current weather is sunny withtemperatures above 60 degrees. Accordingly, a first background 640 ofmultiple backgrounds associated with such conditions (e.g., sunny withtemperatures above 60 degrees) is selected in which a sunset is depictedand a beach. A first avatar attribute 642 of multiple avatar attributesassociated with such conditions (e.g., sunny with temperatures above 60degrees) is selected in which the avatar is playing volleyball and isused to modify the avatar of the second friend.

In response to the weather application 105 receiving a gesture from theuser swiping left, the weather application 105 accesses a fourth page inwhich an avatar associated with a third friend of the user is presentedin screen 604. The weather application 105 determines that the thirdfriend lives in California, where the current weather is sunny withtemperatures above 60 degrees. Accordingly, a second background 650 ofmultiple backgrounds associated with such conditions (e.g., sunny withtemperatures above 60 degrees) is selected in which a city landscapewith clear skies is depicted. A second avatar attribute 652 of multipleavatar attributes associated with such conditions (e.g., sunny withtemperatures above 60 degrees) is selected in which short sleeves andsunglasses are worn and is used to modify the avatar of the thirdfriend.

In response to the weather application 105 receiving a gesture from theuser swiping left, the weather application 105 accesses a fifth page inwhich an avatar associated with a fourth friend of the user is presentedin screen 605. The weather application 105 determines that the fourthfriend lives in Washington state, where the current weather is sunnywith temperatures above 60 degrees. Accordingly, a third background 660of multiple backgrounds associated with such conditions (e.g., sunnywith temperatures above 60 degrees) is selected in which flowers andtrees are depicted. A third avatar attribute 662 of multiple avatarattributes associated with such conditions (e.g., sunny withtemperatures above 60 degrees) is selected in which the avatar isjogging and is used to modify the avatar of the fourth friend.

FIG. 7 shows another screen 710 for presenting weather information to auser in response to receiving a user request for weather information.The weather application 105 determines that the temperature where theuser is located is below freezing. Accordingly, an avatar 720 ispresented having attributes in which the avatar 720 is shivering insideof an ice cube. The avatar 720 is presented together with a weatherforecast 730 for the next few days at the location. An indicator 712 ispresented at the top of the screen 710 showing that the current pagerepresents the user's location and including a number of dots indicatinghow many more pages of weather information including locations where theuser's friends live are available. If the user swipes up or down,further weather details about the location corresponding to the currentpage is displayed. As the user swipes to the left, FIG. 8 shows thetransition from the screen 710, in which the page representing theuser's location is shown, to an adjacent page 820, in which a locationof the user's friend is shown. The indicator 712 is updated to indicator810 to identify the friend of the user for whom weather information isprovided by specifying the name of the friend. An avatar 830 of thefriend is also shown in page 820 having attributes associated with theweather at the location of the friend.

In some embodiments, the user can jump straight to a particular page bytapping on the corresponding dot of the page shown in indicator 810.Namely, rather than swiping a number of times to the left/right to reacha given page, the user can tap on the dot corresponding to the page theuser would like to access. For example, if the user is on the first pageand there are six total pages, the user can tap on the sixth dot whileviewing the first page to access the sixth page directly rather thanswiping five times to the left/right to reach that page.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an example software architecture906, which may be used in conjunction with various hardwarearchitectures herein described. FIG. 9 is a non-limiting example of asoftware architecture and it will be appreciated that many otherarchitectures may be implemented to facilitate the functionalitydescribed herein. The software architecture 906 may execute on hardwaresuch as machine 1000 of FIG. 10 that includes, among other things,processors 1004, memory 1014, and input/output (I/O) components 1018. Arepresentative hardware layer 952 is illustrated and can represent, forexample, the machine 1000 of FIG. 10. The representative hardware layer952 includes a processing unit 954 having associated executableinstructions 904. Executable instructions 904 represent the executableinstructions of the software architecture 906, including implementationof the methods, components, and so forth described herein. The hardwarelayer 952 also includes memory and/or storage modules memory/storage956, which also have executable instructions 904. The hardware layer 952may also comprise other hardware 958.

In the example architecture of FIG. 9, the software architecture 906 maybe conceptualized as a stack of layers where each layer providesparticular functionality. For example, the software architecture 906 mayinclude layers such as an operating system 902, libraries 920,frameworks/middleware 918, applications 916, and a presentation layer914. Operationally, the applications 916 and/or other components withinthe layers may invoke API calls 908 through the software stack andreceive messages 912 in response to the API calls 908. The layersillustrated are representative in nature and not all softwarearchitectures have all layers. For example, some mobile or specialpurpose operating systems may not provide a frameworks/middleware 918,while others may provide such a layer. Other software architectures mayinclude additional or different layers.

The operating system 902 may manage hardware resources and providecommon services. The operating system 902 may include, for example, akernel 922, services 924, and drivers 926. The kernel 922 may act as anabstraction layer between the hardware and the other software layers.For example, the kernel 922 may be responsible for memory management,processor management (e.g., scheduling), component management,networking, security settings, and so on. The services 924 may provideother common services for the other software layers. The drivers 926 areresponsible for controlling or interfacing with the underlying hardware.For instance, the drivers 926 include display drivers, camera drivers,Bluetooth) drivers, flash memory drivers, serial communication drivers(e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB) drivers), Wi-Fi® drivers, audiodrivers, power management drivers, and so forth depending on thehardware configuration.

The libraries 920 provide a common infrastructure that is used by theapplications 916 and/or other components and/or layers. The libraries920 provide functionality that allows other software components toperform tasks in an easier fashion than to interface directly with theunderlying operating system 902 functionality (e.g., kernel 922,services 924 and/or drivers 926). The libraries 920 may include systemlibraries 944 (e.g., C standard library) that may provide functions suchas memory allocation functions, string manipulation functions,mathematical functions, and the like. In addition, the libraries 920 mayinclude API libraries 946 such as media libraries (e.g., libraries tosupport presentation and manipulation of various media format such asMPREG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG), graphics libraries (e.g., anOpenGL framework that may be used to render two-dimensional andthree-dimensional in a graphic content on a display), database libraries(e.g., SQLite that may provide various relational database functions),web libraries (e.g., WebKit that may provide web browsingfunctionality), and the like. The libraries 920 may also include a widevariety of other libraries 948 to provide many other APIs to theapplications 916 and other software components/modules.

The frameworks/middleware 918 (also sometimes referred to as middleware)provide a higher-level common infrastructure that may be used by theapplications 916 and/or other software components/modules. For example,the frameworks/middleware 918 may provide various graphic UI (GUI)functions, high-level resource management, high-level location services,and so forth. The frameworks/middleware 918 may provide a broad spectrumof other APIs that may be utilized by the applications 916 and/or othersoftware components/modules, some of which may be specific to aparticular operating system 902 or platform.

The applications 916 include built-in applications 938 and/orthird-party applications 940. Examples of representative built-inapplications 938 may include, but are not limited to, a contactsapplication, a browser application, a book reader application, alocation application, a media application, a messaging application,and/or a game application. Third-party applications 940 may include anapplication developed using the ANDROID™ or IOS™ software developmentkit (SDK) by an entity other than the vendor of the particular platform,and may be mobile software running on a mobile operating system such asIOS™, ANDROID™, WINDOWS® Phone, or other mobile operating systems. Thethird-party applications 940 may invoke the API calls 908 provided bythe mobile operating system (such as operating system 902) to facilitatefunctionality described herein.

The applications 916 may use built-in operating system functions (e.g.,kernel 922, services 924, and/or drivers 926), libraries 920, andframeworks/middleware 918 to create UIs to interact with users of thesystem. Alternatively, or additionally, in some systems, interactionswith a user may occur through a presentation layer, such as presentationlayer 914. In these systems, the application/component “logic” can beseparated from the aspects of the application/component that interactwith a user.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine 1000,according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from amachine-readable medium (e.g., a machine-readable storage medium) andperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.Specifically. FIG. 10 shows a diagrammatic representation of the machine1000 in the example form of a computer system, within which instructions1010 (e.g., software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, orother executable code) for causing the machine 1000 to perform any oneor more of the methodologies discussed herein may be executed. As such,the instructions 1010 may be used to implement modules or componentsdescribed herein. The instructions 1010 transform the general,non-programmed machine 1000 into a particular machine 1000 programmed tocarry out the described and illustrated functions in the mannerdescribed. In alternative embodiments, the machine 1000 operates as astandalone device or may be coupled (e.g., networked) to other machines.In a networked deployment, the machine 1000 may operate in the capacityof a server machine or a client machine in a server-client networkenvironment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed)network environment. The machine 1000 may comprise, but not be limitedto, a server computer, a client computer, a personal computer (PC), atablet computer, a laptop computer, a netbook, a set-top box (STB), apersonal digital assistant (PDA), an entertainment media system, acellular telephone, a smart phone, a mobile device, a wearable device(e.g., a smart watch), a smart home device (e.g., a smart appliance),other smart devices, a web appliance, a network router, a networkswitch, a network bridge, or any machine capable of executing theinstructions 1010, sequentially or otherwise, that specify actions to betaken by machine 1000. Further, while only a single machine 1000 isillustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include acollection of machines that individually or jointly execute theinstructions 1010 to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

The machine 1000 may include processors 1004, memory/storage 1006, and1/O components 1018, which may be configured to communicate with eachother such as via a bus 1002. In an example embodiment, the processors1004 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction setcomputing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC)processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor(DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), aradio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or anysuitable combination thereof) may include, for example, a processor 1008and a processor 1012 that may execute the instructions 1010. The term“processor” is intended to include multi-core processors 1004 that maycomprise two or more independent processors (sometimes referred to as“cores”) that may execute instructions contemporaneously. Although FIG.10 shows multiple processors 1004, the machine 1000 may include a singleprocessor with a single core, a single processor with multiple cores(e.g., a multi-core processor), multiple processors with a single core,multiple processors with multiple cores, or any combination thereof.

The memory/storage 1006 may include a memory 1014, such as a mainmemory, or other memory storage, and a storage unit 1016, bothaccessible to the processors 1004 such as via the bus 1002. The storageunit 1016 and memory 1014 store the instructions 1010 embodying any oneor more of the methodologies or functions described herein. Theinstructions 1010 may also reside, completely or partially, within thememory 1014, within the storage unit 1016, within at least one of theprocessors 1004 (e.g., within the processor's cache memory), or anysuitable combination thereof, during execution thereof by the machine1000. Accordingly, the memory 1014, the storage unit 1016, and thememory of processors 1004 are examples of machine-readable media.

The I/O components 1018 may include a wide variety of components toreceive input, provide output, produce output, transmit information,exchange information, capture measurements, and so on. The specific I/Ocomponents 1018 that are included in a particular machine 1000 willdepend on the type of machine. For example, portable machines such asmobile phones will likely include a touch input device or other suchinput mechanisms, while a headless server machine will likely notinclude such a touch input device. It will be appreciated that the I/Ocomponents 1018 may include many other components that are not shown inFIG. 10. The I/O components 1018 are grouped according to functionalitymerely for simplifying the following discussion and the grouping is inno way limiting.

In various example embodiments, the I/O components 1018 may includeoutput components 1026 and input components 1028. The output components1026 may include visual components (e.g., a display such as a plasmadisplay panel (PDP), a light emitting diode (LED) display, a liquidcrystal display (LCD), a projector, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)),acoustic components (e.g., speakers), haptic components (e.g., avibratory motor, resistance mechanisms), other signal generators, and soforth. The input components 1028 may include alphanumeric inputcomponents (e.g., a keyboard, a touch screen configured to receivealphanumeric input, a photo-optical keyboard, or other alphanumericinput components), point-based input components (e.g., a mouse, atouchpad, a trackball, a joystick, a motion sensor, or other pointinginstrument), tactile input components (e.g., a physical button, a touchscreen that provides location and/or force of touches or touch gestures,or other tactile input components), audio input components (e.g., amicrophone), and the like.

In further example embodiments, the I/O components 1018 may includebiometric components 1039, motion components 1034, environmentalcomponents 1036, or position components 1038 among a wide array of othercomponents. For example, the biometric components 1039 may includecomponents to detect expressions (e.g., hand expressions, facialexpressions, vocal expressions, body gestures, or eye tracking), measurebiosignals (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature,perspiration, or brain waves), identify a person (e.g., voiceidentification, retinal identification, facial identification,fingerprint identification, or electroencephalogram basedidentification), and the like. The motion components 1034 may includeacceleration sensor components (e.g., accelerometer), gravitation sensorcomponents, rotation sensor components (e.g., gyroscope), and so forth.The environmental components 1036 may include, for example, illuminationsensor components (e.g., photometer), temperature sensor components(e.g., one or more thermometer that detect ambient temperature),humidity sensor components, pressure sensor components (e.g.,barometer), acoustic sensor components (e.g., one or more microphonesthat detect background noise), proximity sensor components (e.g.,infrared sensors that detect nearby objects), gas sensors (e.g., gasdetection sensors to detection concentrations of hazardous gases forsafety or to measure pollutants in the atmosphere), or other componentsthat may provide indications, measurements, or signals corresponding toa surrounding physical environment. The position components 1038 mayinclude location sensor components (e.g., a GPS receiver component),altitude sensor components (e.g., altimeters or barometers that detectair pressure from which altitude may be derived), orientation sensorcomponents (e.g., magnetometers), and the like.

Communication may be implemented using a wide variety of technologies.The I/O components 1018 may include communication components 1040operable to couple the machine 1000 to a network 1037 or devices 1029via coupling 1024 and coupling 1022, respectively. For example, thecommunication components 1040 may include a network interface componentor other suitable device to interface with the network 1037. In furtherexamples, communication components 1040 may include wired communicationcomponents, wireless communication components, cellular communicationcomponents, Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth®components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and othercommunication components to provide communication via other modalities.The devices 1029 may be another machine or any of a wide variety ofperipheral devices (e.g., a peripheral device coupled via a USB).

Moreover, the communication components 1040 may detect identifiers orinclude components operable to detect identifiers. For example, thecommunication components 1040 may include Radio Frequency Identification(RFID) tag reader components, NFC smart tag detection components,optical reader components (e.g., an optical sensor to detectone-dimensional bar codes such as Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code,multi-dimensional bar codes such as Quick Response (QR) code, Azteccode, Data Matrix, Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code, UCC RSS-2Dbar code, and other optical codes), or acoustic detection components(e.g., microphones to identify tagged audio signals). In addition, avariety of information may be derived via the communication components1040, such as location via Internet Protocol (IP) geo-location, locationvia Wi-Fi® signal triangulation, location via detecting a NFC beaconsignal that may indicate a particular location, and so forth.

Glossary

“CARRIER SIGNAL” in this context refers to any intangible medium that iscapable of storing, encoding, or carrying transitory or non-transitoryinstructions for execution by the machine, and includes digital oranalog communications signals or other intangible medium to facilitatecommunication of such instructions. Instructions may be transmitted orreceived over the network using a transitory or non-transitorytransmission medium via a network interface device and using any one ofa number of well-known transfer protocols.

“CLIENT DEVICE” in this context refers to any machine that interfaces toa communications network to obtain resources from one or more serversystems or other client devices. A client device may be, but is notlimited to, a mobile phone, desktop computer, laptop, PDAs, smartphones, tablets, ultra books, netbooks, laptops, multi-processorsystems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, gameconsoles, set-top boxes, or any other communication device that a usermay use to access a network.

“COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK” in this context refers to one or more portionsof a network that may be an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, avirtual private network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wirelessLAN (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), ametropolitan area network (MAN), the Internet, a portion of theInternet, a portion of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), aplain old telephone service (POTS) network, a cellular telephonenetwork, a wireless network, a Wi-Fi® network, another type of network,or a combination of two or more such networks. For example, a network ora portion of a network may include a wireless or cellular network andthe coupling may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) connection, aGlobal System for Mobile communications (GSM) connection, or other typeof cellular or wireless coupling. In this example, the coupling mayimplement any of a variety of types of data transfer technology, such asSingle Carrier Radio Transmission Technology (xRTT), Evolution-DataOptimized (EVDO) technology, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)technology, Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) technology,third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) including 3G, fourthgeneration wireless (4G) networks, Universal Mobile TelecommunicationsSystem (UMTS), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Long Term Evolution (LTE)standard, others defined by various standard setting organizations,other long range protocols, or other data transfer technology.

“EPHEMERAL MESSAGE” in this context refers to a message that isaccessible for a time-limited duration. An ephemeral message may be atext, an image, a video, and the like. The access time for the ephemeralmessage may be set by the message sender. Alternatively, the access timemay be a default setting or a setting specified by the recipient.Regardless of the setting technique, the message is transitory.

“MACHINE-READABLE MEDIUM” in this context refers to a component, device,or other tangible media able to store instructions and data temporarilyor permanently and may include, but is not limited to, random-accessmemory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), buffer memory, flash memory,optical media, magnetic media, cache memory, other types of storage(e.g., Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and/or anysuitable combination thereof. The term “machine-readable medium” shouldbe taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., acentralized or distributed database, or associated caches and servers)able to store instructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shallalso be taken to include any medium, or combination of multiple media,that is capable of storing instructions (e.g., code) for execution by amachine, such that the instructions, when executed by one or moreprocessors of the machine, cause the machine to perform any one or moreof the methodologies described herein. Accordingly, a “machine-readablemedium” refers to a single storage apparatus or device, as well as“cloud-based” storage systems or storage networks that include multiplestorage apparatus or devices. The term “machine-readable medium”excludes signals per se.

“COMPONENT” in this context refers to a device, physical entity, orlogic having boundaries defined by function or subroutine calls, branchpoints, APIs, or other technologies that provide for the partitioning ormodularization of particular processing or control functions. Componentsmay be combined via their interfaces with other components to carry outa machine process. A component may be a packaged functional hardwareunit designed for use with other components and a part of a program thatusually performs a particular function of related functions. Componentsmay constitute either software components (e.g., code embodied on amachine-readable medium) or hardware components. A “hardware component”is a tangible unit capable of performing certain operations and may beconfigured or arranged in a certain physical manner. In various exampleembodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone computersystem, a client computer system, or a server computer system) or one ormore hardware components of a computer system (e.g., a processor or agroup of processors) may be configured by software (e.g., an applicationor application portion) as a hardware component that operates to performcertain operations as described herein.

A hardware component may also be implemented mechanically,electronically, or any suitable combination thereof. For example, ahardware component may include dedicated circuitry or logic that ispermanently configured to perform certain operations. A hardwarecomponent may be a special-purpose processor, such as aField-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or an ASIC. A hardware componentmay also include programmable logic or circuitry that is temporarilyconfigured by software to perform certain operations. For example, ahardware component may include software executed by a general-purposeprocessor or other programmable processor. Once configured by suchsoftware, hardware components become specific machines (or specificcomponents of a machine) uniquely tailored to perform the configuredfunctions and are no longer general-purpose processors. It will beappreciated that the decision to implement a hardware componentmechanically, in dedicated and permanently configured circuitry, or intemporarily configured circuitry (e.g., configured by software) may bedriven by cost and time considerations. Accordingly, the phrase“hardware component” (or “hardware-implemented component”) should beunderstood to encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that isphysically constructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), ortemporarily configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manneror to perform certain operations described herein. Consideringembodiments in which hardware components are temporarily configured(e.g., programmed), each of the hardware components need not beconfigured or instantiated at any one instance in time. For example,where a hardware component comprises a general-purpose processorconfigured by software to become a special-purpose processor, thegeneral-purpose processor may be configured as respectively differentspecial-purpose processors (e.g., comprising different hardwarecomponents) at different times. Software accordingly configures aparticular processor or processors, for example, to constitute aparticular hardware component at one instance of time and to constitutea different hardware component at a different instance of time.

Hardware components can provide information to, and receive informationfrom, other hardware components. Accordingly, the described hardwarecomponents may be regarded as being communicatively coupled. Wheremultiple hardware components exist contemporaneously, communications maybe achieved through signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuitsand buses) between or among two or more of the hardware components. Inembodiments in which multiple hardware components are configured orinstantiated at different times, communications between such hardwarecomponents may be achieved, for example, through the storage andretrieval of information in memory structures to which the multiplehardware components have access. For example, one hardware component mayperform an operation and store the output of that operation in a memorydevice to which it is communicatively coupled. A further hardwarecomponent may then, at a later time, access the memory device toretrieve and process the stored output.

Hardware components may also initiate communications with input oroutput devices, and can operate on a resource (e.g., a collection ofinformation). The various operations of example methods described hereinmay be performed, at least partially, by one or more processors that aretemporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured toperform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors may constitute processor-implementedcomponents that operate to perform one or more operations or functionsdescribed herein. As used herein, “processor-implemented component”refers to a hardware component implemented using one or more processors.Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partiallyprocessor-implemented, with a particular processor or processors beingan example of hardware. For example, at least some of the operations ofa method may be performed by one or more processors orprocessor-implemented components. Moreover, the one or more processorsmay also operate to support performance of the relevant operations in a“cloud computing” environment or as a “software as a service” (SaaS).For example, at least some of the operations may be performed by a groupof computers (as examples of machines including processors), with theseoperations being accessible via a network (e.g., the Internet) and viaone or more appropriate interfaces (e.g., an API). The performance ofcertain of the operations may be distributed among the processors, notonly residing within a single machine, but deployed across a number ofmachines. In some example embodiments, the processors orprocessor-implemented components may be located in a single geographiclocation (e.g., within a home environment, an office environment, or aserver farm). In other example embodiments, the processors orprocessor-implemented components may be distributed across a number ofgeographic locations.

“PROCESSOR” in this context refers to any circuit or virtual circuit (aphysical circuit emulated by logic executing on an actual processor)that manipulates data values according to control signals (e.g.,“commands,” “op codes,” “machine code,”, etc.) and which producescorresponding output signals that are applied to operate a machine. Aprocessor may, for example, be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), aReduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) processor, a ComplexInstruction Set Computing (CISC) processor, a Graphics Processing Unit(GPU), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an ASIC, a Radio-FrequencyIntegrated Circuit (RFIC) or any combination thereof. A processor mayfurther be a multi-core processor having two or more independentprocessors (sometimes referred to as “cores”) that may executeinstructions contemporaneously.

“TIMESTAMP” in this context refers to a sequence of characters orencoded information identifying when a certain event occurred, forexample giving date and time of day, sometimes accurate to a smallfraction of a second.

Changes and modifications may be made to the disclosed embodimentswithout departing from the scope of the present disclosure. These andother changes or modifications are intended to be included within thescope of the present disclosure, as expressed in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: determining, by one or moreprocessors, a current location of a user device associated with a firstuser; retrieving an image that displays an object in a first stateassociated with a first weather condition; adjusting an attribute of theimage to display the object in a second state associated a secondweather condition corresponding to a weather condition at the locationassociated with the user device; and placing a first weather-basedavatar, associated with the first user, relative to the displayed objectin the second state to combine the first weather-based avatar with thedisplayed object in the second state.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinthe object comprises a vehicle and the first weather-based avatar isplaced inside of the vehicle, further comprising: determining that asame weather condition at the current location is associated with aplurality of user devices; in response to determining that the sameweather condition at the current location is associated with theplurality of user devices, selecting first and second visual attributescorresponding to the same weather condition; and automaticallygenerating a plurality of weather-based avatars for the users associatedwith the user devices, a first weather-based avatar of the plurality ofweather-based avatars having the first visual attribute and a secondweather-based avatar of the plurality of weather-based avatars havingthe second visual attribute.
 3. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving a request for weather information; modifying anexisting avatar based on the weather condition to generate the firstweather-based avatar; and generating for display on a requesting devicethe first weather-based avatar together with a visual representation ofthe weather condition.
 4. The method of claim 1 further comprising: inresponse to a request from a requesting device, causing concurrentdisplay on the requesting device of a plurality of weather-based avatarscomprising the first weather-based avatar and a second weather-basedavatar.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: storing aplurality of visual attributes of the first weather-based avatarassociated with the weather condition.
 6. The method of claim 1, whereinthe weather condition includes a weather forecast for a plurality ofdays, wherein the first weather-based avatar is displayed together witha visual representation of the weather condition, and wherein the visualrepresentation of the weather condition comprises, for each day in theforecast, a temperature indicator, a day indicator, or a graphic andtextual description of the weather condition.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein the current location is a first location, further comprising:displaying a plurality of weather-based avatars on a first page of aplurality of pages together with a visual representation of the weathercondition; receiving first input comprising a first swipe gesture alonga first direction on the first page; and in response to receiving thefirst input comprising the first swipe gesture, displaying a transitionfrom the first page to a second page, the second page comprising a thirdweather-based avatar with a visual attribute corresponding to a thirdweather condition at a second location of a second user together with agiven visual representation of the third weather condition, whereindisplaying the transition comprises displaying a first portion of thefirst page together with a second portion of the second page.
 8. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising: determining that the first weathercondition corresponds to sunny, wherein the displayed object in thefirst state comprises display of a boat in calm water conditions; anddetermining that the second weather condition corresponds to rainy,wherein adjusting the attribute to display the object in the secondstate comprises displaying the boat with rough water conditions.
 9. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising: determining that the first weathercondition corresponds to sunny, wherein the displayed object in thefirst state comprises display of a car with a roof open; and determiningthat the second weather condition corresponds to rainy, whereinadjusting the attribute to display the object in the second statecomprises displaying the car with the roof closed and animatingwindshield wipers of the car.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein theweather condition is a first weather condition, and wherein the firstweather-based avatar is displayed together with a visual representationof the weather condition as a first page of a plurality of pages on theuser device, and wherein the method further comprising: receiving, froma requesting device, a request to access a second page of the pluralityof pages; identifying a second user associated with the second page; andgenerating for display, in the second page, a second weather-basedavatar with a visual attribute corresponding to a third weathercondition at a first location of the second user together with a givenvisual representation of the third weather condition.
 11. The method ofclaim 10 further comprising receiving, from the requesting device, auser selection of a set of users for which to provide weatherinformation, wherein the second user is identified based on the set ofusers, wherein the plurality of pages is arranged based on groups of theset of users.
 12. The method of claim 11 further comprising: determiningthat users in a first group of the set of users are within a specifiedrange of the first location; determining that users in a second group ofthe set of users are within a specified range of a second location;associating the first group of users with the second page such that aplurality of avatars associated with the first group of users isincluded in the second page together with the second avatar; andassociating the second group of users with a third page of the pluralityof pages.
 13. The method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying aplurality of weather-based avatars on a first page of a plurality ofpages together with a visual representation of the weather condition,wherein the first page comprises an indicator with a number of dotsrepresenting how many more pages of weather information are available;receiving first input comprising a first swipe gesture along a firstdirection on the first page; and in response to receiving the firstinput comprising the first swipe gesture, displaying a transition fromthe first page to a second page; updating the indicator to identify thesecond user associated with the second page based on the transition;receiving second input comprising a second swipe gesture along a seconddirection on the first page different from the first direction; and inresponse to receiving the second input comprising the second swipegesture, providing additional weather details about the first locationcorresponding to the first page.
 14. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: accessing current weather conditions at a plurality oflocations associated with a set of users; retrieving historical weatherinformation at the plurality of locations; comparing the current weatherconditions with the historical weather information; determining that agiven weather condition at a given location of the plurality oflocations associated with a given user is different from the historicalweather information at the given location by more than a specifiedamount; and modifying an arrangement of a plurality of pages in responseto determining that the given weather condition is different from thehistorical weather information at the given location by more than thespecified amount.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein modifying thearrangement comprises advancing one of the plurality of pages to anearlier position in a sequence corresponding to the plurality of pagesin response to determining that the given weather condition is differentfrom the historical weather information at the given location by morethan the specified amount.
 16. The method of claim 14 further comprisingdetermining whether a user of a requesting device is interested inreceiving weather information for the given location of the given user,wherein modifying the arrangement is performed in response todetermining that the user is interested in receiving weather informationfor the given location of the given user.
 17. The method of claim 14further comprising generating for display, on a requesting device, anoption for a user of the requesting device to compose and send a messageto the given user in response to determining that the given weathercondition is different from the historical weather information at thegiven location by more than the specified amount.
 18. A systemcomprising: a processor configured to perform operations comprising:determining a current location of a user device associated with a firstuser; retrieving an image that displays an object in a first stateassociated with a first weather condition; adjusting an attribute of theimage to display the object in a second state associated a secondweather condition corresponding to a weather condition at the locationassociated with the user device; and placing a first weather-basedavatar, associated with the first user, relative to the displayed objectin the second state to combine the first weather-based avatar with thedisplayed object in the second state.
 19. The system of claim 18,wherein the object comprises a vehicle, and wherein the operationsfurther comprise: determining that a same weather condition at thecurrent location is associated with a plurality of user devices; inresponse to determining that the same weather condition at the currentlocation is associated with the plurality of user devices, selectingfirst and second visual attributes corresponding to the same weathercondition; automatically generating a plurality of weather-based avatarsfor the users associated with the user devices, a first weather-basedavatar of the plurality of weather-based avatars having the first visualattribute and a second weather-based avatar of the plurality ofweather-based avatars having the second visual attribute.
 20. Anon-transitory machine-readable storage medium that includesinstructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a machine,cause the machine to perform operations determining a current locationof a user device associated with a first user; retrieving an image thatdisplays an object in a first state associated with a first weathercondition; adjusting an attribute of the image to display the object ina second state associated a second weather condition corresponding to aweather condition at the location associated with the user device; andplacing a first weather-based avatar, associated with the first user,relative to the displayed object in the second state to combine thefirst weather-based avatar with the displayed object in the secondstate.